Flying to Asia is about to get a lot cheaper with the arrival of Singapore Airlines’ low-cost subsidiary, Scoot, which will offer fares from $111 one-way to Singapore from Sydney, including taxes.

Scoot’s lead-in price is less than one-third of Jetstar’s lowest fare for Melbourne to Singapore at $369. ­Jetstar also flies direct to Singapore out of Perth from $299 and out of Darwin from $219.

When it lands in Sydney on June 5, Scoot will operate direct daily flights between Singapore and Sydney, plus five times a week direct between ­Singapore and the Gold Coast (from June 13).

The Singapore-Sydney leg is Scoot’s inaugural flight. The airline was only conceived last year and has just two planes in its fleet – both 777s that carry 402 passengers.

New aircraft are on order to be delivered this year.

Scoot has also launched flights from Sydney and the Gold Coast to Bangkok (via Singapore) for $149, as well as Tianjin, China (via Singapore) from $199. Tianjin is only 30-minutes from Beijing by bullet train.

More than 20,000 seats on the first Scoot flights between Australia and Singapore sold out in one day last October when they were priced at an introductory offer of $88 – breaking the magic $100 barrier for a flight out of Australia into the heart of south-east Asia.

“The response was exceptional," Scoot’s Australian general manager, Darren Wright, told The Australian Financial Review.

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“The relationship between Singapore and Australia is close and strong, and there is no restriction on flights between the two countries. Both countries see the benefit of competition and increased visitation."

While it is difficult to compare different airline fares as they are subject to change, and different pricing structures come into play, Scoot’s bargain prices seem lower than Malaysia’s low-cost AirAsia X, which has flown to Australia since 2007, adding Sydney to its flight schedule in early April.

Then again, even a quick perusal of Scoot’s online site shows it is hard to find many $111 fares left. Many fares are now creeping up towards $249.

Jetstar has hit back and defended its ground, arguing it pioneered long-haul low-fares travel between Singapore and Australia in 2006 (out of Cairns via Darwin).

“We welcome competition and so do our customers," a Jetstar spokesman said, adding that flights through Jetstar’s Singapore hub grew by almost 50 per cent in the first half of the 2011-12 financial year, while maintaining load factors close to 80 per cent.